Chamber and committees

It is every patient's responsibility to keep their NHS appointment and it is important that they let their primary care team or the hospital know when they cannot attend. However, we also recognise that the NHS has to be flexible in helping make appointments convenient to patients.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting health boards implement policies to reduce missed appointments such as providing reminder services through text, emails and social media. This will allow reminders services to be tailored for patients who are most likely to not attend.

By end of March 2016 , the Scottish Government’s investment in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme had extended fibre broadband access to at least 89% of premises in Fife, 90% of premises in Clackmannanshire and 67% of premises in Perth and Kinross. By the end of 2017, when DSSB deployment completes, those coverage figures will rise to at least 98% in Fife, 99% in Clackmannanshire and 90% in Perth and Kinross.

In terms of how NHS Fife is supporting Forth Valley Royal Hospital the Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally.

However, the Scottish Government is working closely with health boards, including NHS Fife and NHS Forth Valley, as part of an improvement approach to ensure improvements are made on a sustainable basis. This approach aims to minimise long waits in A&E and Assessment Units and ensure the whole NHS system works together effectively - beginning from a patient’s first contact with the NHS right through to, if they require admission, their discharge from hospital.

Through the National Unscheduled Care - six Essential Actions Improvement Programme NHS Fife has implemented a number of actions at the Victoria Hospital, which has seen performance at, around or above 95% over the last few months. The board has developed an integrated team of Nurses, allied health professions (AHP’s) (Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists) and Frailty Practitioners (support workers), who share skills to provide a comprehensive assessment of patients screened as frail who attend the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) as well as the acute admissions areas within the acute hospital. It enables the frailty team to gather as much relevant details from the patients and their family/carers on their previous level of function, as well as how they are functioning presently; which in turn aids timely clinical decision making on the best pathway for the patient. This work has supported the continued reduction in the length of time these patients spend in hospital.

NHS Forth Valley has seen some variable performance but often performs at, around or above 95%. The Hospital has also implemented a number of actions to support sustainable improvement against the four hour A&E target. They have recently standardised the emergency referrals process to the acute medical unit, which has led to a reduction in delays for patients attending this unit.

The Police Service of Scotland Regulations 2013 set out that officers can only hold a business interest with the consent of the Chief Constable, or in the case of a Senior Officer, the Scottish Police Authority. Police officers are not able to take on any second job that might conflict with their policing duties.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-29600 on 21 March 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Each and every one of the drug related deaths in Scotland is tragic. We are continuing to tackle the devastating impact that drugs have for individuals, families and communities, and making recovery a reality, through our national drugs strategy, the Road to Recovery. The Scottish Government is continuing to invest significant resources to support this strategy and to tackle problem alcohol and drug use, having provided £630 million since 2008.

Whilst drug taking among the general population is falling and the number of young people taking drugs is at the lowest in a decade, we remain determined to tackle problem use. With our partners, we are engaged in a range of activities to reduce the harm caused by problem drug use, both in understanding the problem, supporting innovation in services and examining alternative approaches.

Betting, gaming and lotteries are reserved matters and their regulation is therefore primarily the responsibility of the UK Government. The Gambling Commission was set up by the UK Government under the Gambling Act 2005 to regulate commercial gambling. Further information about online gambling legislation can be found on the commission’s website: http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/Gambling-sectors/Online/Remote.aspx

In the context of the Smith Commission, the Scottish Government argued for the full devolution of gambling policy to Scotland on the grounds that this would enable problem gambling in Scotland to be tackled more effectively. However, the subsequent Scotland Act 2016 included only a limited power in respect of the number of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals in new betting shops.

The Scottish Government has allocated over £10.3 billion to local government for 2016-17. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government's key strategic objectives.

The Scottish Government is committed to working with local government to help improve the condition of roads and pavements throughout the country. We do this through the Road Collaboration Programme which is supporting all councils in Scotland to explore opportunities to share services. A number of regional partnerships have now been established including the Edinburgh, Lothians, Borders and Fife Forum and the Tayforth Roads Collaboration Forum.